Jurors to hear details of child's beating death

Mar. 11, 2014 - 09:06PM
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HONOLULU — A death penalty trial is scheduled to begin in the case of a former Hawaii-based soldier accused of beating his 5-year-old daughter to death in 2005.

After months of jury selection, opening statements are expected Tuesday in the murder trial against Naeem Williams.

Even though Hawaii abolished capital punishment in 1957, the federal court system allows for the federal death penalty.

Talia Williams died in July 2005 after she was brought to a hospital unresponsive, vomiting and covered in bruises. A criminal complaint by federal investigators accuses her then-25-year-old father of beating the child to discipline her for urinating on herself.

Investigators noted the girl slept in a room that had no mattress, no furniture and no blankets.